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get inside. “I didn’t see a jacket back there.”
    “I must’ve heard her wrong. Sorry.”
    “Okay.” She sighs. “That was a fun party. The birthday girl couldn’t stop hugging her doll.”
    “They seemed to have a good time.” I shift nervously from one foot to another. “Anyway, my friend is waiting. I’ll see you later?” I head quickly for the door.
    “Hey, Picasso!” she calls.
    I stop, thinking she’s seen Xander outside and is going to call me out. I turn slowly.
    “You have paint on your face.” She sticks her thumb in her mouth then comes at me with it.
    “Don’t you dare.” I wipe at my cheek.
    She laughs. “Have fun.”
    “Thanks, Mom. I’m sorry to leave you by yourself.”
    “It’s fine, Caymen.”
    “Thanks.”
    Xander is sitting in his car fiddling with the radio when I get in. The smell of new leather assaults my senses. His car has more buttons and screens than I’ve ever seen in a car in my life.
    He turns off the radio as I buckle my seat belt. “So you’re saying even if you had a cell phone, you wouldn’t give me the phone number?”
    It takes me a second to realize he’s picking up our previous conversation. “I didn’t say that. I just said that wasn’t a concrete factor to prove your theory.”
    He lowers the visor in front of me and flips open the mirror. “You still have paint on your face.” He runs a finger down my cheek, tracing the paint line. My breath catches for a moment when his finger seems to linger a second longer than necessary.
    “Stubborn paint.” I turn my head to see the blue streak better. I rub it until it’s gone.
    Xander opens the compartment above my knees and takes out a pair of leather gloves. As he pulls them on, I can’t help but laugh.
    “What?”
    “You have driving gloves.”
    “And?”
    “And it’s funny.”
    “Funny adorable?”
    I shake my head. “If you say so.”
    He revs the engine a few times and then pulls onto the road. “Why do I get the feeling you didn’t want me to meet your mom back there?”
    I thought it had escaped his notice. Apparently not. “Because I didn’t.”
    “Well, that would explain the feeling.”
    “She’s . . . Let’s just say I need a little time before you two meet.” Fifty years would probably do it.
    “I’m sure I’d like her.”
    I laugh. “You would like her just fine.”
    He stops at an intersection and three women in brightly colored coats cross the street in front of us. “Wait, are you implying she wouldn’t like me? I’ve never met a mom who didn’t like me.”
    My gaze rests on his gloved hands. “There’s a first time for everything.” I watch storefronts go by for a while then ask, “Where are we going?”
    “You’ll see.” Fifteen minutes later we pull up in front of The Road’s End hotel.

Chapter 14

    “ Y our hotel? I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be a maid when I grow up,” I say to Xander as he drives through the parking lot.
    “Even if you wanted to I don’t think you could. That’s a hard job.”
    I start to say something sarcastic back but am too surprised by his comment to think of anything. He parks the car in front and gets out. I follow him.
    “This is not hotel-related. Except for the fact that the hotel serves as the backdrop.”
    “For REDRUM?” I ask in a croaky voice.
    “What?”
    “Haven’t you ever seen The Shining ?”
    “No.”
    “Jack Nicholson? Slowly going crazy?”
    “No.”
    “Probably a good idea since your family owns a bunch of hotels. I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s a horror movie that takes place in a hotel. So. Scary.”
    “What does red rum have to do with anything?”
    “It’s murder spelled backward.” I finish with three warning beats: “Dum dum dum.”
    He gives me one of his are-you-for-real looks again. “Sounds terrifying.”
    “That’s it. You have to watch the movie. I don’t care if it makes it so you can never step foot in a hotel again. You’re watching it.”
    He tosses his car